Tell Us What You Really Think

As long as we are discussing loaded terms, I would like to point out a couple of things that certain Southerners say that are not exactly obvious. When someone says “bless his/her heart” down here they generally leave off the “after you rip it, still beating, from his/her chest” because that would disturb everyone digestion. One should always smile sweetly when using the phrase, and the additional phase “and feed it to the hogs” is rarely envisioned.

While generally “SBC” refers to the Southern Baptist Convention, among some Southerners is used to mean “ignorant misogynist Nazis”.

English is such a wonderful, playful language, even if you aren’t Humpty Dumpty.

The nice thing about being a Southern is that you can say anything about anybody as long as you append it with bless his heart. Ole’ Guvner Huckleberry is a sincere religious radical fanatic, bless his heart.

It is rather amazing that he actually said out loud what anyone who has been been attention already knew – they want the government to mandate their religious views. The historic irony of this is that one of the first religious groups that were promised that the new Constitution protected their religious freedom were the Baptists. Jefferson’s letter articulating the “wall of separation between church and state” was a response to the Danbury Baptist Association.

You have to wonder how the “word of G-d” would have seemed to have altered between 1802 and 2008.

I’ll beg to differ with you very slightly on the ‘bless his/her/your heart controversy.

I myself have used it both ways, very interchangeably, for people I really would like to bless and those I would really like to ‘bless’ to hellfire and damnation. And I know many who say it quite earnestly as a true blessing – the real kind, and many who simply use it as a habit of speech with no ill intent or much intent at all.

I am working on a post at the moment – maybe I’ll get it up this evening, but more likely tomorrow. I bless my own instinct to be an informed patient and also sincerely bless my doctor who has the good sense to listen to his patients. And I have VERY good reason to do it. As in a matter of MY life and possibly certain imminent death.

So, bless both our hearts, from the bottom of mine. Yours, too, Bryan, for carrying on the good fight.

We have similar customs here, and most countries do. 🙂 Citizens of the USSR became expert at multiple meanings of words and phrases! (In fact, it was because of such subtleties that foreign agents were often caught). 😉

In the south it is all in inflection and tone. “bless his little heart” can mean a curse or a blessing just in the way it is said. I also like “Why aren’t you sweet” which can mean sincere appreciation or complete disgust.

I was so overwhelmed with happiness, gratitude, and relief last night I could hardly type sensible words But I’ll leave it as is. It IS fabulous good news, snatched me from the coroner, and pertinent to everyone.

I’m still high as a kite and alive to see this day. Now, THAT’S a blessing!

Great to hear Andante! And you do have my sincere sympathies. I was told I had 6mths to a year before liver failure and my kidney’s were not functioning properly about a decade ago. But I survived by doing the right things.

Bryan: LOL Well, I am sure you could write a book on the subject! I know I read many reports about it all! I have a few stories myself. 😉 Eg, I learned how to drink vodka and give the proper toast to Markovitz’s etc. by a Russian diplomat in exchange for teaching him some of the Aussie rules of etiquette! We both knew where and how that information would be used, but figured it was a fair trade. And it was fun trying to catch each other out! LOL Yep! The good ol’ days indeed!

Great to hear Andante! And you do have my sincere sympathies. I was told I had 6mths to a year before liver failure and my kidney’s were not functioning properly about a decade ago. But I survived by doing the right things.

Bryan: LOL Well, I am sure you could write a book on the subject! I know I read many reports about it all! I have a few stories myself. 😉 Eg, I learned how to drink vodka and give the proper toast to Markovitz’s etc. by a Russian diplomat in exchange for teaching him some of the Aussie rules of etiquette! He would take me to a wonderful Russian family owned restaurant in Sydney called Rasputin’s, and I’d take him to one of my favorite places. Thankfully, due to a misspent youth and my Grandfather, I could drink like a Russian without getting drunk (which was forbidden of course!) We both knew where and how that information would be used, but figured it was a fair trade. And it was fun trying to catch each other out! As it happened, he wanted to live here, so he was very useful. To paraphrase my Mother, “you get more useful info from a foreign agent with kindness, patience and honesty than with torture”. LOL Yep! The good ol’ days indeed!

I’d had a BMT (bone marrow transplant) in the early ’90’s. What they don’t mention until later is that you only have (or had back then) an average of 7 to 9 years to live. It’s the drugs mainly they put me on after. They caused a great strain on the liver etc.

The thing I learned is… ALWAYS get a 2nd and 3rd opinion! Do your own research (believe me… some Doctors are useless and out of date), and don’t ignore alternative therapies with a proven track record.

When I found out how bad things were, I stopped drinking anything other than pure water, and ate organic foods as much as possible. I eventually found a good (but expensive) Naturopath, who put me on a whole new diet regime. It worked. I’m still here. The liver will repair itself if you give it a chance. The Doctors will say the the kidneys won’t, but that’s not true. Mine did, and my thyroid also. 🙂

I have a very dear friend who is the chief Pharmacist at a large Hospital here, she’s been there 30 years. She says she and her staff spend most of their time following Doctors to make sure they aren’t going to kill a patient with the wrong medication or dose. Seriously. The drug companies lie to Doctors, and the Doc’s believe them. Pharmacists know better! 🙂

Hope that helps a bit. 🙂

Good luck man! It’s a hard road, but you can do it! You just need to have great reason to live. 🙂

Thanks. I like to learn, and will continue to ask questions and research what I need to know.

And yeah – diet. The garden is in it’s planning stages. Without more land, we can’t raise much, but I can be on the lookout for some good source of organic, natural foods. A little difficult in this area.

And as long as I leave the gardening alone and leave it to Mr. Andante, we may get something out of it. I am a gardening jinx of the highest order.

I got some of those big plastic drums (making SURE they had nothing toxic in them!) that you can buy cheaply, cut about a half section off (leaving the ends intact), and made a wooden stand for the drum on the side. I planted tomato’s, bean’s and cucumbers in two of them. 🙂

Best thing you can do is get a good worm farm! Seriously! LOL

You can also grow herbs and small things in hanging planters etc. Parsley is very good. 🙂

My Mother controls the problem with diet alone by reading labels and staying within the guidelines her doctor and the kidney sites publish. There’s a lot of good information out there, but don’t go overboard. Remember we only really need one kidney, and we have two, so there’s a lot of room for error and a simple blood test to tell the tale.

Bryan: That’s true. But one of the biggest problems is the toxin levels in normal produce, and the USA has some of the highest in the Western world. And while you only *need* one kidney, two is a better option! 😉 You never know what’s down the road…

I think it’s a good idea these days to grow your own food anyway. From an economic and nutritional (and even a therapeutic) standpoint, it can’t be beaten. 🙂

BTW, Stress is the 2nd biggest problem. So try not to get stressed about it all! Many people have survived these problems. Take time out to be normal and have a laugh! 🙂

And Bryan (again, sorry to be a comment-thread-hog) – any sites you especially recommend? I don’t even know IF my kidneys are trashed yet, but If not – I’d like to prevent it. I’ve taken advantage of their good services too much already to mess around. Same request to anyone, of course.

One thing about organic gardening – most seeds I’ve run across anywhere seem to be ‘treated’ with something or other. Good, bad, stupid, smart? I have no clue – Mr. Andante always just grabs something on display at the local hardware store.

No problem. 🙂 When it stops raining (finally! Rain! First time this month!) I’ll hunt through my archive boxes in the shed. Looks like the rain is here for a couple days.

As for seeds and gardening generally… I’ll defer to the expert, LadyMin! I’ll point her to this thread when I see her later. 🙂

Prevention is always better than cure! And there are many good reasons for a healthy good-food diet. And having your own is good exercise too. Of course, it does depend a lot on where you are. If you get long freezing winters like LadyMin…. it’s pretty tough! But doable. 🙂

"A person who has a cat by the tail knows a whole lot more about cats than someone who has just read about them."

Mark Twain

"There are two novels that can change a bookish 14-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

Editor

Commenting

The opinions expressed in Comments are those of the individuals making them. Truly absurd comments and opinions are subject to being cruelly mocked, but "flame wars" will take place on someone else's dime.

Your first comment, all comments with extensive links, and random comments that the software decides it doesn't like for no discernible reason will be held for moderation.

[Be aware that for unknown reasons the software rejects comments shorter than 15 characters, so if you want to leave a short comment fill the gap with periods ........]